BENKI PIYÃKO

THE FOUNDER 

Benki, founder of the Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute, is an indigenous political and spiritual leader from the Ashaninka tribe working for the preservation of nature and the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, their cultures and lands. He fully commits himself to healing the world through the traditional knowledge that has been passed down from his ancestors. 

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HANDS-ON TEAM

MAKING IT HAPPEN 

A group of over 15 young leaders of indigenous and non-indigenous descent has been accompanying Benki Piyãko for the past 10-15 years and are trained in agroforestry, traditional medicinal practices, construction, administration and more. They are responsible for the development and organizational structure of the Yorenka Tasorentsi center.

ADVISORY BOARD

Ben Meeus

ETHICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ADVISOR

Ben Meeus holds a Master’s Degree in International and European Law (Cum Laude) and a second Master’s degree in Latin American Studies. He has studied and worked extensively on human rights issues related to natural resource extraction, land rights, culture and spirituality of indigenous peoples and minorities in Latin America. Among others he has contributed to the work of Amnesty International and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-OHCHR). He now continues his service to the protection of rainforests and the rights of indigenous peoples at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), with the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative. 
 
Ben speaks Dutch, French, English, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish.

Charles Rossi

LEGAL ADVISOR

Charles B. Rossi is a Human Rights and environmental lawyer based in the Juruá Basin, in western Amazon. He also co-founded the Fronteiras Institute (http://ifronteiras.org) and works as a Law Professor for the Federal University of Acre. Before moving to the Amazon, Charles lived and worked as a volunteer in Africa in the peace building process of the Bakongo people after the civil war, had a corporate career in industry and went back to the university where he got his masters degree in Economics and doctorate degree in Law, from the University of Sao Paulo.

 

Carolina Comandulli

indigenous affairs ADVISOR

Carolina Schneider Comandulli has been supporting  indigenous peoples in the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests for the past 15 years. She has held key positions in the government/policy sector, working directly with local indigenous organisations, including several positions at the National Foundation for Indigenous Affairs (FUNAI) and has acted as a consultant for many NGOs.

She is the co-founder of CLOSER, a multidisciplinary research group on Brazilian socio-environmental research, and a member of the Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group and of the Centre for the Anthropology of Sustainability (CAOS). Carolina has an MSc in Anthropology and Ecology of Development from UCL and is currently finishing her PhD thesis at UCL Anthropology.

 

Flore Ferjani

Marketing ADVISOR

Flore Ferjani was born and raised in Tunisia and moved to New York City at the age of 8 where she spent 7 years before moving to France. Studying at international schools until the age of 18, she continued her higher education in a French Business School, specializing in International Business and Marketing. She held a variety of roles in the aviation industry like general marketing, partner communications, and regional marketing. 

Flore is now dedicated to the protection of nature through the Institute’s activities.

Flore speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic.

Contacts

For any inquiries please email

contact@yorenkatasorentsi.org

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